Alone in the Universe
by schillil
Summary: On a mission through Galla for Jon, Numair and Daine spend some quiet time talking dreams post ROTG. Light songfic fluff.


Alone in the Universe

Just a bit of fluff I thought up at work. And if anyone I work with reads this (you know who you are) I typed it up at home.

None of the characters belong to me, I just borrowed them. The song doesn't belong to me either. For those who don't recognize it, it is Alone in the Universe from Seussical. Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

_I've been guarding this clover  
For over a week,  
Getting laughed at  
For thinking a dust speck can speak.  
Well, let them all laugh  
I'll try not to mind,  
For I have found something  
That they'll never find!_

"Daine, come on, its time to get up. We have a long ride ahead of us yet." Numair Salmalin called gently from outside the tent.

" 'M coming." She staggered out of the tent, yawning hugely. "What a strange dream." She shook her head to clear it then looked the lanky man she had come to love more than life itself, a man who was staring at her, mouth open in shock. He started to shake a little, eyes dancing with mirth.

"What?" He shook his head and pointed to a mirror nestled in the fork of a tree. He doubled over with effort of suppressing his laughter. Daine's brow furrowed as she approached the tree. She had little sense of humor that early in the day, but as she looked up into the mirror and saw exactly what was so funny. She started to giggle. Two very large elephant ears hung from the sides of her head. She looked over at the tall man and waggled them in the light breeze. He could hold it no longer and broke out in peals of laughter.

She reformed her ears as she approached him, grinning. He was wiping tears from his eyes. "I'm sorry Magelet." He leaned down to kiss her. Stepping back he said, "Some dream, eh? Dare I ask?"

"I dreamt I was a singing elephant. I was singing to a clover." She shook her head at the absurdity and took a bite of the bacon. "Its probably good that Kit's not here, else I'd have not gotten anything to eat."

The mage grinned.

: Do I want to know where those things came from: Cloud grumbled sardonically.

: Those things were ears. It was just a strange dream. Don't worry about it. :

:Dreams shouldn't make you ever want those.: The mare scoffed.

:I don't know..: She grinned at the pony. :They could be fair useful.:

With a sigh, she popped the last piece of bacon in her mouth and wiped her hands on the grass. "I 'spose we'd best get going then."

More complex than the most intricate court dance, they quickly packed their gear. Never once did they plow into each other as one would expect, though the pace the god Duckmole had witnessed a few weeks ago had slowed somewhat. After all, when they passed close enough to each other they often shared a fleeting kiss. Soon, though,they were riding on into Daine's past.

_There are secrets on a leaf,  
In the water, in the air,  
Hidden planets, tiny worlds,  
All invisible!  
Not a person seems to know.  
Not a person seems to care.  
There is no one who believes a thing I say... _

Well, I'm fairly certain  
At one time or other,  
Great thinkers all feel this way!

Numair looked at his companion in wonderment. Who would guess that the bearer of those soft blue-gray eyes was so strong? At the request of the kings of Galla and Tortall, they were heading into the Gallan mountainside looking for the source of some rather strange magical attacks. They seemed to be coming from an area north west of Cria, the capitol. Numair had realized what Jon was asking only a split second faster than Daine. She had only shaken her head and murmured something like there wasn't much, north west of Cria but her old village, Snowsdale.

Only Onua and Numair knew her entire storied past. In that small village, she was Sarra's bastard daughter, conceived on Beltain night. She had been seen as worthless and a disgrace on her mother and the entire village. After bandits attacked her home and slaughtered her family she had lost control of an extremely powerful gift of wild magic. She turned somewhat feral and ran with a wolf pack exacting revenge on those who had taken her mother and granddad's lives. It ended with several men of the village hunting her, poised to kill her to prevent her madness from infecting anyone else.

He shook his head wryly. In the fairly short time he had known her she had saved his life more times than he could count. He had become her teacher, mentor, and friend. Her poise humbled him. Her beauty awed him. But her love, ah, that he had never counted on. He had tried to deny his love for her. When that failed, he hid it as best he could. He might have gone on hiding it had he not almost lost her in the Divine Realms.

So far they had not told anyone of the shift in their relationship. It was too new, too fragile and far too precious to them to risk the wagging tongues of the court gossips. Thus, when he had argued that Jon send someone else on this mission, his king had been adament, by the Gods, the two most powerfulmages in the kingdom, if not the whole of the eastern lands, were going to go wheretheir king sent them.

Daine had simply reached out and put her hand on Numair's arm, halting his tirade. He remembered looking into her eyes, saying so much without words. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, answering the questions in his eyes. If Jon noticed anything strange, well, he had the good grace to keep silent. Finally they agreed to go and left the monarch's office to pack.

_I'm alone in the universe.  
So alone in the universe.  
I've found magic but they don't see it _

They all call me a lunatic.  
Ok, call me a lunatic.  
If I stand on my own, so be it.

Daine rode quietly, immersed in her own thoughts. She was returning to her roots, but not her home. That had ended the day that people she had trusted all her life and taken up slings and stones, bows and arrows,against her. She didn't blame them. Isolated villages often were highly superstitious, and she had gone crazy. She had attacked as a ravening wolf instead of a thinking two-legger girl child. She had never truly "known her place". She was a bastard, conceived on Beltain to a man her mother rarely mentioned.

All of this had once caused great pain, but now that was all in the past. She had a home and friends. She knew now that Weiryn, god of the hunt was her da.From him she had inherited her own strange type of magic: wild magic. She could speak to any animal, heal any animal, become any animal she chose. Unlike the frightened child she had been, she knew who she was now. She could stand on her own. She glanced at her companion. That didn't mean she wanted to though.

Numair had taught her so much: the love of books and learning, the joy of friends, and the comfort of knowing that some people would accept her in all her strangeness. Not everyone, she thought with a grin. No, that would have been fair weird. No one was liked by everyone.

"Numair?"

"Yes, Magelet?"

"I think we're getting close to the village, probably only a candle mark or two. Do you think I should go scout ahead?" She asked quietly.

He reined Spots in and looked at her, an odd glint in his eye. "Are you sure, Sweet? You needn't. Your animal friends could keep watch for us." He nodded at the deepening dusk. "Not to mention its getting dark."

She looked at him for a moment before she appreciated that he was, again, attempting to shield her from her past. He was worried about her and wanted to protect her from hurt. She reached out a hand to stroke his cheek, already rough with stubble, and smiled.

"I can do this, Numair. These aren't my people anymore." He nodded quietly and caught her hand in his. He pressed a kiss into her palm. She smiled, "It isn't like they would recognize me in the air anyway." Within a mere wink she was gone and an eagle took to the skies.

_'Cause I have wings.  
Yes, I can fly  
Around the moon  
And far beyond the sky  
And one day soon  
I know there you'll be  
One small voice in the universe  
One true friend in the universe  
Who believes in me...  
_

Daine had soared on the winds seeking out the places that she barely remembered. People tending the fields below looked up as her shadow passed over. In this region, eagles were good luck. Wouldn't it be funny when they realized that the luck they felt today would be turned on its ear tomorrow? She harbored no illusions that most would have forgotten her. The villagers had always had long memories. She glided over the remains of her old home. Nothing grew in her Ma's garden now but weeds and a wild tangle of rose bushes that had been her mother's pride and joy.

She lighted on the remains of the roof beam and looked about her. The memories flooded her mind and for a few moments she was overwhelmed and keened her grief to the heavens. Most of the tears, though, were dried up years ago. Her ma was still about, happily with her da in a little cottage with a huge garden in the Divine Realms. As a minor goddess, she had respect from people who had shunned her before. Life went on.Daine took to the air.

_I'm alone in the universe.  
So alone in the universe.  
My own planets and stars  
Are glowing.  
No one notices anything.  
Not one person is listening.  
They don't have any way of knowing.  
_

Numair lay in the grass some ways from the fire, watching the stars. They had been his constant companions when all else had gone mad. He had studied them as a student, followed them as a fugitive, and they had lulled him to sleep in the final days before midsummer, when his thoughts about Daine threatened to squash his waning resolve to keep himself apart.

Smiling, he remembered waking from entrapment in his black hawk form to find Alanna yelling at him. Daine had saved his life before she had ever met him. He saw an eagle shadow cross the rising moon and soon Daine came out of the thicket where he'd set up camp for the night. He sat up and motioned for her to join him. She did. For a while neither spoke, content to simple share the quiet solitude.

_Nobody knows that  
I have wings  
Yes, I can fly  
Around the moon  
And far  
Beyond the sky  
Well someday soon  
You will hear my plea  
One small voice in the universe  
One true friend in the universe  
Please believe in me ...  
_  
"Hello…Magelet…hello."

"Huh?" Numair startled her from her musings.

"You never told me why you were singing to the clover."

"What?"

"The clover, in your dream. You never told me what you were singing to it, or why you were an elephant, for that matter."

"Oh. Well…who can explain a dream." Swiftly she placed a finger over his lips to forestall a lengthy explanation of dreams and their meanings. "I think there were people, really little people, living on the clover. It sounds silly, I know."

Numair smiled as she nestled closer. He gently put his arm around her and held her close.

"Numair?"

"Yes?"

"Do you ever dream?"

"Often." Especially now that I have you, he added silently.

"What of?"

"Sometimes I fly off to strange lands, see amazing things. Sometimes I'm closer to home. Almost always…" He trailed off.

"Always what?"

He felt his cheeks redden slightly. She held his heart, his life, his soul. He knew he could trust her with anything, but this was embarrassing. He muttered something unintelligible.

"What?"

"Almost always, I dream in color…bright vivid color." He looked away briefly, discomfited by the disclosure and her silence.

"You too?" She finally sputtered incredulously. He looked at her in amazement. She went on, "Do you ever dream that you could fly up and touch the stars?"

"Magelet," He whispered softly, "no one else has dreams such as ours."

_Yes, I have wings.  
And I can fly  
Around the moon  
And far beyond the sky _

They kissed tenderly. Then headed back to their bedrolls.

"Good night, Magelet. I love you."

"I love you too, Numair. Sweet dreams."

Numair Salmalin smiled at his love and thought that they would definitely be sweet. They would be of her.

_You called my name  
And you set me free-  
One small voice in the universe  
One true friend in the universe  
Who believes in me.  
_

So what do you think? Review please.


End file.
